for. >> listen, i'm glad we can help you. we care a lot about this story. we've been covering it since yesterday. that is kim kapp, the pic which is what they call them there in vancouver, washington, the public information coordinator as opposed to the public information officer. my thanks to you. my thanks to all of you at home. we'll see you tonight at 8:00 p.m. for the primetime edition of "rick's list." here now wolf blitzer in "the situation room." thanks very much. happening now breaking news. a powerful magnitude 7 earthquake rocks new zealand. one official says it was like a freight train running through the house. we're going to christ church in new zealand for the latest. also, it was supposed to be recovery summer. now for the second time this week president obama is forced to play economic offense in the face of rising unemployment. and it's called the mosquito and its high pitched buzz sound just might give you a headache. is the controversial device now being used to target young people here in washington, d.c.?

i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." we want to get to the breaking news we're following. a magnitude 7 earthquake has rumbled the new zealand city of christ church. the quake caused minor damage so far but there are some reports of injuries. i want to bring in dr. sebastian koga the neuro surgeon joining from us christ church hospital, quite close to the epicenter of the quake, i think about 20 miles or so. what do you see, doctor? give shaking and it

seemed to go on and on. i stood in a doorway and it was probably ten minutes before i was able to get out of the house. the streets were in panic. i flagged a taxi who volunteered to take me to the hospital to check out our patients. christ church hospital is in an old building which is in the process of being replaced. our near surgery floor had ceilings collapse and evacuated patients to another ward. the emergency department was gearing up to deal with all the casualties. fortunately, the ambulances have brought in only 70 to 100 people and as daylight came over the city we saw a lot more patrols

and damage assessments and we've not been told that there is any cluster of casualties or any reports of trapped citizens under the rubble. >> that's good to hear, dr. koga. thanks very much. we'll stay in close touch with you. dr. sebastian koga is a neuro surgeon at christ church hospital in new zealand. meanwhile, a fiery scene in the united arab emirates today after a u.p.s. 747 cargo plane crashed in an unpopulated area near the dubai international airport. a local news agency reports that the two crew members were killed. so far there has not been any official confirmation. the company says the accident occurred as the 747 was taking off for germany. no word yet on what caused the wreck. we'll stay on top of that story as well. new york and new england meanwhile are now bracing for a lashing from hurricane earl as it barrels up the east coast in

time for this holiday weekend. our senior correspondent alan chernhoff is on montauk on long island. describe what you're seeing. >> wolf, the surf is very, very intense. have a look at waves out there. all afternoon we've been watching the power of mother nature and it is absolutely incredible. some of those waves well over 10 feet high. no doubt about that. the wind picking up right now as well. we've had rain intermittently. it stopped just a few moments ago. the story here out in montauk right at the tip of long island is right behind me. those waves and the tourists have been coming out here, dozens, all afternoon, just watching that scene. in terms of emergency preparations, well, there are plenty. a lot of residents here have boarded up their windows. some haven't bothered to do so. they've put the furniture inside. the patio furniture.

and also the long island power authority has tripled its man power just in case the power goes out and so far no reports of that at all. no problem there. long island railroad, they're not running any trains out here whatsoever. again, out of precaution, wolf. >> out of an abundance of precaution. thanks very much. let's get more now on the track of this storm. joining us from miami, the director of the national hurricane center, bill reid. thanks very much. it looks like north carolina, the situation there could have been a whole lot worse and it appears to be looking relatively good for long island and new england. but correct me if i'm wrong. >> no, you're absolutely right. this is the 24-hour satellite loop and earl has been kind enough to follow very close to the u.s. but not a direct hit with the core winds of the storm so we did have some gusts reported unofficially above hurricane force out on the outer

banks and near hatteras but this afternoon it's been moving actually farther away from land in the area off to the southeast of new jersey and new york and as you pointed out in your earlier part of the segment there, the strong waves are now coming ashore in long island and over the next few hours it'll deteriorate over nantucket, martha's vineyard, and the cape cod area. the system is moving very fast, very confident of the track at this time. the winds will still go down slowly as we move over colder water and it may or may not even be at hurricane strength but you'll still have a four to six-hour period of strong tropical storm force winds, battering waves on nantucket and parts of cape cod. >> as it moves up but it could have ban whole lot worse. what about our friends in canada? what can they expect? >> well, they're going to get a direct hit as this system, they're going to get the next real landfall as it comes across.

it's going to go over nova scotia, prince edward island, and on out into the rest of the maritime and it'll probably be going into what we call an extra tropical or more like a winter storm phase toward the end of that cycle but they'll certainly get the strong tropical storm force winds on nova scotia and prince edward island tomorrow as the storm goes through there. >> we wish them only the best. let's look ahead for the next month or two until the end of this hurricane season. what do we expect? >> well, you get plenty of storms during this peak of the hurricane season and as you can see on this animation, they're lined up pretty much all across afr kachlt the waves are coming across. here is one that came off yesterday that we're watching in our outlook. this was gaston. those are the next two in line from the so-called area. we're watching an area down here

south of mexico and a system in the eastern pacific. it is very active across the tropics impacting the western hemisphere at this time. right on schedule. >> what about fiona? what happened to fiona? >> fiona is in the -- being torn apart by wind shear phase. that's why you hardly see any of it in this image but the circulation that is fiona if it holds together will go across bermuda as a much weaker system and won't be of concern to us after a couple days. >> earl, fiona, gaston. we're watching together with you. thanks very much, bill read. good luck to all your colleagues over there. we're counting on you for important, sometimes life saving information. appreciate what you're doing. >> thank you for taking the time to talk with us. >> all right. bill read of the national hurricane center. the nation's unemployment rate inching up as lost jobs out pace new jobs. president obama looks for a silver lining and says republicans stand in his way. stand by for that.

and iranians take to the streets to show support for the palestinians and to call for the fall of israel. and another step toward plugging bp's ruined oil well in the gulf of mexico for good. the blowout preventer is off. stay with us. you're in "the situation room." i really save you 15% or more car insurance? a bd in the hd worth 2 inhe bush?

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just days before the traditional kickoff to the mid-term campaign season president obama is coming out swinging against issue number

one for voters, the ailing economy. a new jobs report showing the unemployment rate rising to 9.6% as well as a total loss of 54,000 jobs last month. certainly isn't helping. >> as i've said from the start, there's no quick fix to the worst recession we've experienced since the great depression. the hard truth is that it took years to create our current economic problems and it'll take more time than any of us would like to repair the damage. millions of our neighbors are living with that painfully every day. but i want all americans to remind themselves there are better days ahead. >> let's bring in our senior white house correspondent ed henry working the story for us. the president said next week he'll be announcing new initiatives to deal with this economic crisis. do we know what he has in mind? >> reporter: we do. first let's start with what senior officials say we should

not expect to be in this package and that they say do not expect a second stimulus package like some news reports have been suggesting. frankly, they just don't have the money. we're so deep in debt right now to come up with anything close to that nearly $800 billion package they had last year. for semantics reasons they're certainly not going to call it a stimulus either because it hasn't been politically popular. instead what they are talking about is small measures, something like a permanent extension of the research and development tax cut for example. try to get businesses spending more money. maybe more infrastructure spending as well. some construction projects. the problem of course, we've seen some of that before. it hasn't necessarily created anywhere near the kind of jobs the administration has promised and that's why you hear the president today in the rose garden, speaker pelosi today putting out a release, laying out what they've done previously to try to make the case before the mid term election. they talked about how for eight straight months you can see on the screen private sector job growth. eight small business tax cuts they've gotten through despite

republican opposition on the hill. 670,000 private sector jobs lost during the bush administration the democrats point out. meanwhile they've had 763,000 private sector jobs created by the obama administration and the democratic congress. challenge of course is despite the white house branding this as recovery summer, most americans are not feeling it as a recovery despite some of those private sector jobs that have been created. that's why the president has to roll out new measures. look for them to come out next wednesday in cleveland. he has a big economic speech there. we think he'll lay it out then, wolf. >> all right. now tell me about this, the second time this week the president really blasted the republicans for trying to block this small business jobs bill. he and the democrats want to push through. what is this dispute all about? >> reporter: when you talk to republicans like senator mcconnell they think it's kind of a straw man and say they've only really blocked the small business bill once and that seven other times it was senate democrats said hold the small business bill off the floor because they wanted to move over to more pressing business. the bottom line is in about a

couple weeks they'll finally get it on the senate floor. the white house says they think they'll finally pass it. here is what is in it. there will be $12 billion in tax relief to small businesses. they won't have to pay capital gains anymore for example if they're going to pour more money into their business and invest it. $30 billion in new loans for small businesses going to go into a poll that will go directly to community banks. not the big banks but community banks actually spend the money in local communities. the problem, though, is that even though the president is going to probably finally get this later this month senate democrats are not coming back to work from the august recess until about september 13th. so we're still days away from it coming to the floor, then probably days more of delays and votes on the floor and the whole process, probably late september before the president could sign this into law if it passes. that makes it less and less likely these measures are really going to have any impact before the november election, wolf. >> ed henry at the white house for us, thank you. let's continue to go in depth on the economy. new poll numbers now showing how americans think president obama is handling the issue.

joining us our senior political analyst david gergen. these numbers are bad as far as the president is handling the economy, only 40% in this new cnn opinion research corporation poll, david, approve of the way the president is dealing with the economy. 59% disapprove. why do you think it's so bad for the president? >> well, wolf, that is the lowest number he's gotten as you well know. and the president pointed out today there has been some private sector growth over the last three months in jobs. but coming into this labor day weekend this is not a happy weekend for most americans. i mean, i think the reason it's so low is we've had now 13 straight months with unemployment in this country 9.5% or higher. 13 straight months. people thought there would be relief by now. we'd have almost 15 million people now noimunemployed, a hi number than a month ago. we have about 10 million people

under employed so 25 million people in this country really hurting. plus they are getting socked with new health care, insurance bills for next year. you know, the employers are taking those increases in health care costs and putting them on to employees. on average it's going to be a $500 a year increase in health insurance premiums for american families. those are not happy times going into a labor day weekend. >> look at this other poll number in our new cnn opinion research poll. is obama doing a good job keeping campaign promises? 51% say yes. 47% say no. the country pretty divided on whether he's doing a good job keeping his campaign promises. even though he did get health care reform passed, financial reform, the economic stimulus package. he is withdrawing u.s. forces from iraq. half the country almost thinks he's not doing a good job. >> well, wolf, i think if you're a democrat you look at that and say, this is a pretty remarkable record of making promises on big

bills like health care and actually getting it done. i mean, seven presidents in a row have failed on health care. he got a comprehensive health care done. he got the financial reform done. from the point of view of a lot of americans yes you got the bill passed but we don't like what you got passed. we thought by now if you were going to spend all this money on stimulus you promised the unemployment rate wouldn't go higher than 8% and look where it is, 9.5, 9.6 now. so that's why i think there is this mix. you know, it is -- people recognize and i think historians will say he got some big legislation done, big bore stuff, but it was not popular and i think that the -- i can't remember a time when a president has gotten such big legislation done that has been as unpopular as this has been. >> it seems at least if you believe the numbers especially health care the more folks are appreciating what's going on at least for the time being the less they like it but it's the subject for another day. thanks very much. >> we will be there after the november elections, wolf.

we'll be back there big time. >> we'll see if that attitude changes. appreciate it. the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad weighing in on this week's efforts to jump-start middle east peace. also, former cuban president fidel castro leads his first open air rally since falling gravely ill. he has a new warning. stay with us. mer event, which means the only thing left to decide is who drives it home. me! her. me! qualified lessees now get a low mileage lease on this malibu ls, a consumers digest best buy, for around $199 a month. call for details. the switch begins at chevydealer.com. [ male announcer ] at ge capital, we're out there every day with clients like jetblue -- financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not.

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now to some of the other top stories in the situation room. what's just coming in right now, fred? well, this is really remarkable. take a look at these images out of aurora, oregon. a plane crashed into a mobile home as you see right there. the pilot suffered some injuries. he was taken to a nearby hospital. but more miraculous than that there was a woman living inside that mobile home and as the plane crashed into it, she is unhurt. still unclear exactly what took place here to cause that plane to go down. however, this did take place fairly close to a nearby air strip. meantime, officials in lester, england, say an explosion rocked a hari krishna temple setting the ground floor ablaze. a third of the building collapsed but all the people are accounted for. the cause of the blast is under investigation. according to the guardian online

the community leader says a gas leak in the kitchen is suspected. in iran an iranian opposition leader was absent from protests in an annual holiday marking the country's solidarity with palestinians. the son of karubi says his security force advised him to stay away after dozens of people attacked his home. speaking at tehran university the iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad denounced israel. he said this week's middle east peace talks in washington are doomed to fail. the potential of nuclear war among israel, iran, and the u.s. is a concern for former cuban president fidel castro. for the first time since falling gravely ill, four years ago, castro led an open air rally today. he told students at the university of havana that they are duty bound to warn humanity of the nuclear danger. the rally was castro's first major event since coming out of

seclusion in july. as you know, wolf, usually when he speaks it is to thousands if not millions so it's pretty remarkable to see that kind of turnout once again for fidel castro. >> fidel castro looking relatively good, sounding relatively good as well for someone who was so critically ill only a little while ago. a powerful earthquake and aftershocks rocking new zealand. we're monitoring conditions in the city near the quake's epicenter. and new equipment arrives at the site in chile where 33 miners remain buried and waiting. hope rises that it could speed up their rescue. and silverado half-ton have each been named a consumers digest best buy. they like that chevy backs the quality with a one-hundred-thousand mile powertrain warranty. they're not just trading in, they're trading up. qualified lessees now get a low mileage lease on this malibu ls for around one ninety-nine a month. call for details.

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let's get back to our top story the labor department is saying the unemployment rate ticked up 0.1% in august to 9.6% as the overall economy shed 54,000 additional jobs. it's a far cry from what the white house was branding at the start of the summer "recovery summer." we have the chief economist for mo

moody's. where do you see the unemployment number going in the next few months let's say over the next year? >> it's going to rise. we're getting underlying job growth today less than 100,000 per month. we need 150,000 per month just to maintain a stable rate of unemployment. so the unemployment rate is going to rise and i would not be surprised if it's back into double digits by the end of the year. >> like 10%, 10.5%? is that what you're talking about? >> yeah. i think it'll be over 10% come december, january, and the peak probably will be closer to 10.5% by early next year. >> will it stay at that level throughout 2011? >> i'm hopeful it will improve. you know, there is some good news. big business, mid-sized companies are very profitable and if history is any guide, when we see these kind of profits then ultimately businesses get their groove back and start to hire more aggressively. i anticipate that occurring as we make our way into next year. but, you know, even under the best scenario, we're going to have very high unemployment for

a very long time. we're talking five, ten years. we're not going to see any meaningful improvement for quite sometime. >> for five or ten years? is that what you're saying? >> yeah. i mean, to get back to full unemployment, what everyone would consider to be an unemployment rate that would signify that everyone who wants a job is getting a job, that's 5%, 6%, it's going to take a good, solid five years, and perhaps longer. we need some really good policy making and a little bit of luck. >> because the president's message after the friday morning unemployment numbers came out, he had a message if you listen carefully to these little clips --. >> we are confident that we are moving in the right direction but the key point i'm making right now is that the economy is moving in a positive direction. jobs are being created. and the evidence that we've seen during the course of this summer and over the course of the last 18 months indicate that we're

moving in the right direction. >> are we moving in the right direction? >> yes, we are. now, just think back a year ago. i mean, it's hard to remember that far back but we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs. the unemployment rate headed straight up. the trajectory was all in the wrong direction. today we are, the president is right. we are creating jobs. it's not enough to bring down unemployment but we are creating jobs. i think a year from now next labor day will be even better but the improvement is slow and it's going to take a long time and we dug ourselves such a very deep hole it's going to take years to dig our way out. so, yes. we're moving in the right direction. it's just too bad we're not moving in that direction more quickly. >> looking back over the last 18 months since president obama took office with hindsight we're all a lot smarter. what should we have done differently? >> well, i think it would have been prudent back in early '09 when we were cobbling together the stimulus package if it were made larger and it was made larger by more tax cuts.

a payroll tax holiday. so right now here we are talking about the potential for another payroll tax holiday. if we had done something like that, back in early 2009, then i think that would have made a meaningful difference. >> is it too late now? because there is a lot of talk about yet a second stimulus package even though they don't want to call it a stimulus package for obvious political reasons but is it too late now for a huge stimulus package to go forward? >> well, it's too late for the next six to nine months. there is nothing i think the administration or congress could do today that would make a meaningful difference with respect to the job market between now and next spring. but there are many things they could do that would make a difference with respect to that long-term unemployment problem i just mentioned. there are things that can be done and should be done. we should nail down the tax cuts expiring at the end of the year unless congress and the administration do something. the president has made a point about passing the small business bill that is in front of

congress, that should be done. i think it makes some logical sense to start talking about a large infrastructure spending program for the out-and-out years it is paid for, we have to pay for it but i think that is important as well. >> i think you still agree when it comes to tax rates they should continue as is even though they're supposed to go into -- supposed to expire at the end of this year you don't want any tax increases in 2011 even for people making more than $250,000 a year? >> exactly. you know, my view the recovery is just too fragile. we can't take a chance. if we go back into recession there is no reasonable policy response. don't take a gamble. keep everyone's tax rates where they are in 2011. when we're into 2012, 2013 and the economy has its groove back and we're off and running then allow the tax breaks for upper income individuals to revert back because that the point we need to address our next big problem which is our long-term fiscal situation. >> mark zandi is the chief

economist for moody's. thanks very much. >> thank you. for u.s. troops it's the deadliest summer of fighting ever in afghanistan. are those u.s. troops winning the fight against what some consider to be their number one threat? also, it could greatly impact the future of the space program but will it ever even get off the ground? and a popular physicist sparks a firestorm after wading into the age old debate over whether god created the universe. when you approach things from a different perspective, you don't end up with just another car. you end up with the all-new saab 9-5 luxury sport sedan.

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defense secretary robert gates met much of the day meeting with u.s. troops on the ground in afghanistan. the visit comes in the midst of what is proving to be one of the most trying summers on the front lines for those u.s. troops. let's bring in our pentagon correspondent barbara starr working this for us. what do you have? >> reporter: wolf, defense secretary gates now on his way home but as you say he moved across southern afghanistan meeting troops, talking a lot suddenly about all of the progress that's being made but the question is, is the progress real? troops from the iowa national guard now on their way to afghanistan. they will be joined by the last of the 30,000 extra troops that president obama ordered to join the fight. defense secretary robert gates visited southern afghanistan to offer his condolences after several troops were killed in recent days. >> those of you who have lost friends, those of you who are caring about those who have been

wounded and been medevacced back home, all of those heroes are going to be in our thoughts and prayers. >> reporter: u.s. troops are now locked in the deadliest summer of fighting ever in afghanistan. more u.s. troops have already died this year than all of last year. still, a tough commander in the south says troops aren't winning against their number one threat -- are winning against the number one threat, ieds. >> they are taking out the ied suppliers. those things are not getting to the battle field as readily as they did a few months ago, just a few weeks ago. >> reporter: are things getting better with now nearly 100,000 u.s. troops on hand? general mills says some areas in southern afghanistan could be turned over to local control in coming months but he won't say exactly when. general david petraeus is facing a november deadline to show nato allies things are getting better. petraeus says a major objective

remains securing kandahar in the south and maintaining security in key areas. >> you can bang away all you want to in various locations but until you clear and hold them, you will not have denied taking away the sanctuary that is used by these elements. >> reporter: but he also signaled potential progress in a controversial objective making peace with the taliban. >> and then the prospect for reconciliation with senior taliban leaders certainly looms out there and there have been approaches that hold some promise. >> reporter: defense secretary gates said at one base he visited the biggest complaints he heard was that the internet and the washing machines weren't working. one senior military official told us he found some of gates' remarks oddly optimistic given the fact that just a few short weeks ago all of the talk was about the taliban having the momentum. so is the tide really turning? it remains to be seen. wolf? >> i've heard, barbara, that a

u.s. military chaplain has now been killed as well. >> reporter: yes. this is so tragic. it does underscore the violence the troops are facing. this week five u.s. soldiers were killed in one attack. an i.e.d. attack. and one of them was an army chaplain, the first chaplain, chaplain dale goetz to be killed action in the wars in afghanistan and iraq. the religious military community mourning him, saying he was a very devoted chaplain, father, and husband. wolf? >> we mourn all of those troops killed action. barbara, thanks very much. our deepest condolences. new zealanders are rocked from their beds by a powerful earthquake. hours later what they're finding in the light of day. and a new drill arrives at the mine where 33 men are trapped a half mile beneath the earth's surface. will the special equipment bring them up sooner than expected?

we're watching hurricane earl as it moves up the eastern seaboard coast of the united states. it's still a category one right now. it's moved past north carolina and virginia, past maryland and delaware. you can see it's moving toward new jersey and new york and then new england. we'll update you on what we know. that's coming up. stand by. much more on hurricane earl as it moves in a northerly

direction. let's get to our strategy session right now. joining us our two cnn political contributors, democratic strategist james carville and the republican strategist ed rollins. james, i'll start with you. this quote jumped out at me when i was reading the "new york times", a story entitled fewer young voters see themselves as democrats. the college vote is up for grabs this year. though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties. far fewer 18 to 29-year-olds now identify themselves as democrats compared with 2008. i guess the silver lining there for you, james, is that far fewer young people vote than older people. >> and also, the youth vote had been turned into democratic in 2004. actually john kerry the only demographic he carried moved up in 2006 and 2008. sometimes what happens is when

the electorate shrinks in an off year a lot of these young voters are not going to come out and vote and that'll have some effect on it. look, we're in a recession and being a college professor i know how tough the job market is for these young people. so it's not surprising that we sustained some loss given the current economic situation. >> are you surprised, ed, that the president and the democrats have not managed to keep this -- what a lot of folks saw as a critical base in the party in 2008? >> there was a great number of young people who voted for president obama in the first election. they were enthusiastic about him. they thought he was going to be a change agent and he was someone of their generation against someone who was much older. i think what's happened is many of these young people will be independents in their lifetime. my first two votes in 1964 and 1968 i was a democrat. i became a republican in 1972 and never voted for a democrat since. i hope that's what the trend will be for some of these people but i think the bottom line is the fiscal thing is so important to them that whoever gets,

whichever party basically appeals to that front, oon don't get them trapped in social issues because most of them are libertarian will do very well with young people in the future. >> how do you reenergize these young people, james? >> you know, i think that their voting behavior and tendencies are still there but this is a very, very tough job market. it's starting to come back a little bit with today's numbers and i think what happens is that as the economic numbers improve i think they'll come back to being democrats. i thank's wheink that is where and some of the problem is they tend to be more drop-off voters among young voters than any other demographic. >> let's talk a little about afghanistan and its impact. i was reading an article in "the washington post." he cited this quote that was from an unnamed presidential adviser in a peter baker article in the "new york times" back on august 28th.

our afghan policy, this adviser to obama said, was focused as much as anything on domestic politics. he would risk losing moderate to centrist democrats in the middle of health care reform and viewed that legislation as the make or break legislation for his administration to which krauthammer wrote if this is true then obama's military leadership can only be called scandalous. james, what do you think? >> let's just identify to our viewers because they may not know who charles krauthammer is. he is what they call a neocon. he is a right wing guy who thought it was a nifty idea to invade iraq and i think actually thinks we won that war. this is not a person that -- >> what about the bs >> right. i want our viewers to know whoa is. secondly i'm not sure i understand a thing because there were many liberals that were mad at president obama because they

didn't have a public option so somebody -- a columnist with a liberal bent could make the same argument on the other side. i just don't place much stock in what he says to be honest. >> the argument he is making, krauthammer, who is a well known conservative columnist, ed, is if the president decided to change the strategy in afghanistan only to hold on to moderate and centrist democrats and risk the lives of u.s. military personnel who were dying in big numbers in afghanistan right now, he says that's scandalous. that's the point that krauthammer is making. >> i think that's a little over stated. i think this president obviously from the beginning campaigned against the war in iraq. he ran as an anti-war president. he thought afghanistan was someplace that we should do some good and finish the job there. where i challenge it is the time frame. you can't basically, this isn't like a boxing match where you go ten three-minute rounds. you can't go into a war and basically say that in a year we're going to pull out without

basically engaging the enemy and entla enthralling the enemy. the dilemma we face today is we don't have the additional 30,000 troops in there and we're talking withdrawal in a year. that is the danger and the other side sees that. i don't think this president with all the things he has on his plate wants to be focused on wars but i don't think that's a bad thing. i think the good thing is to get this economy moving again but he basically has to make sure gates and others are making sure that our troops are being protected there. >> are you comfortable with the president's strategy in afghanistan? >> no. i'm not comfortable with anything in afghanistan. i'm not comfortable with the fact that we went in there nation building and never had a plan and i'm not comfortable with getting out and i'm not comfortable with staying in. i'm uncomfortable about the entire thing. and unlike mr. krauthammer i would be very reluctant to send 7500 of our soldiers -- our soldiers 7500 miles away to change how people live. i think it would have been a lot smaller if we had run the

taliban out of there and left. i think we'd have been infinitely smarter if we'd never have gone into iraq so i don't really have a philosophical foreign policy. i don't have, you know, maybe some things in common few thingh mr. krauthammer, and maybe nothing, but he can connect whatever dot hes wants, but there is nothing about afghanistan i am comfortable with. >> well, what happens if you chase them out is that you chase them into another region that is unsafe in the world. >> well, thank god they are not there, right? >> well, they are there in pakistan and afghanistan and this mission is far from over. guys, thank you very much. >> have a nice weekend. >> thank you, wolf. crews taking steps to shutdown the well responsible for the disaster in the gulf of mexico once and for all. and a device that has not done its job is removed. nasa testing the next generation rocket with the shuttle program winding down, what happens next if it does not

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this is the all-new jaguar xj. the stunning result of taking a very different road. over to fredricka who is monitoring other top stories in "the situation room." what else is going on, fred? >> hello, wolf, and everyone. the coast guard's admiral thad allen has confirmed to cnn that bp has detached a failed blowout preventer and they have resumed operations to plug the leak for good. religious leaders are up in arms over physicist steven hawkings' assertion that god played no role in creating the

universe. he talks and it in his book, and he tells the canterbury of london that physics alone will not settle the discussion. he will be a guest on "larry king live" next september 10th right here on cnn. and salvage divers in the baltic sea have discovered what are believed to be bottles of the world's oldest beer. they were found at the site of the ship wreck with 200-year-old bottles of champagne were just discovered. not clear who gets to sample it and see how well it did over 200 years. >> i suspect that no one is going to want to drink that beer. thank you very much. >> it may taste like the bottom of the sea. >> maybe. thank you. remarkable images are coming into us right now from new zealand and we will show you what a powerful earthquake did to the country's second largest city. stand by for that. and hurricane earl heading up the east coast right now and where the storm is headed next.

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as the shuttle program draws to a close, nasa is testing the next generation rocket, but what if it does not make the cut? here is cnn's john zarrella. >> two, one, fire. >> reporter: the test firing of the 154-foot aires rocket lasted two minutes. pretty cool. well, enjoy, because this could be the last time that candle is ever lit. the aires built here in prom toir, utah by arrow space was going to be the background of the future and the rocket that propelled astronauts to the moon and some day to mars and the problem is -- it is sort of a big problem -- no one can agree if this is the rocket they want. the white house wants something new, much bigger and cutting edge for deep space missions. so does nasa. >> we have always had big dreams, but we have also always

failed to match the budget or the funding to those dreams. i think that for the first time at least that i can remember, a president has matched the funding to the dreams. >> reporter: meanwhile commercial companies like space x want to take over the shuttle's role of ferrying astronauts to the space station. for its part, congress is leaning toward continuing the development of aires, but one more powerful than this one, just in case cutting edge does not cut it, because it does not yet exist. >> it is a matter of money. if congress is asking nasa with its own resources to divert some resources to keeping the aires project alive, then something else is going to suffer, and it could be scientific missions, mars missions for example. >> reporter: greg cotter runs atk's aires rocket program. >> well, this is the segment for the second demonstration motor. >> reporter: they have built the rockets here for more than 30 years, including every space shuttle solid rocket booster,

and the aires is an evolution of that booster, and bigger and more powerful. $1 billion has been spent on its development, and until the funding runs out, and someone tells them to stop. >> we are working as if, you know, this is what we are going to do. i mean, that is our direction and what we are on the contract to do, and that is how we are behaving. >> reporter: in the coming months, a, res will be decided by nasa and congress and the white house and ares' supporters say that if the rocket technology is abandoned then this is the quite literally your tax dollars going up in smoke. john zarrella at the kennedy space center in florida. and you are in "the situation room." happening now, breaking news, a devastating magnitude 7.0 earthquake causing widespread damage in new zealand's second largest city. we will get a live update from the scene of the disaster. and new numbers on the u.s. economy are putting new pressure on president obama and democrats

with the midterm elections two months away, and what can they do to turn it around? and a controversial device to prevent loitering, and we will show you how it takes advantage of age to target teenagers. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer, and you are in i'm wolf blitzer, and you are in "the situation room." -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com the labor day weekend here in the united states is beginning with a washout along the shores of the northeastern parts of the united states as hurricane earl moves in. it is a category one storm right now packing some high surf and powerful winds, and force of nature that anyone disregards at their own risk after some lashing of the north carolina coast, earl now poses the greatest threat to eastern long island and cape cod and then on to canada. our national correspondent susan candiotti is joining us from south yarmouth, massachusetts, and she is standing by, and

susan, stand by for a moment, because i want to get the latest forecast from the meteorologist and severe weather expert chad myers at the cnn hurricane center. what do we know about this hurricane right now, chad? >> down to 80 miles per hour in the center. that is good. the problem is still, if you are going to do a vacation this weekend, just don't leave today. leave tomorrow. this will be long gone. this will be 1,000 miles into canada by tomorrow night, but from the cape down through long island and even into new jersey, the weather today is not great. travel is not that good. there is a lot of rain coming down and an awful lot of traffic on the roadways. give it a day or half a day, and it will be great. it missed cape hatteras, thank goodness, because it was a big storm then and large category 2 and small 3 at that time, and now it will skirt nantucket and cape c cape cod and nannantucket, and

along the shore. and wolf, we talked about last night, if this storm waited six hours to turn, all of this would be on land, and the biggest wind gust was 80, and we could have had wind gusts 120 to 130 miles an hour with this system. there is the eye, and you can't see it, because it is too far off shore. we are happy it is off shore. there will be big waves all up and down the east coast. if you are a swimmer without a life jacket on, stay out of the water and go to the pool, because this is a weekend with rip currents all up and down the east coast even into maine even though we don't have the sand bars up there, but all of the way up and down the east coast, there are rip currents. and this is well past nova scotia for saturday. still warnings for the cape and nantucket and back to narragansett with the tropical storm watches and warnings have been canceled for the trip up

and down the east coast. wait a few hours to be safe tomorrow, and not force it today. >> it could have been a whole lot worse. >> yes, it could have been. >> let's check in with susan candiotti out on cape cod. what it is like there, susan? unfortunately, we are not hearing susan. susan, we weren't hearing you. your microphone was not on for some reason, so start again and tell us what you are seeing and what you are hearing. >> reporter: okay. let me know if you are not hearing it yet. then we will switch out the microphones for you -- >> we are hearing you now. >> reporter: terrific. if you can see over my shoulder not too many white caps now, and it is not looking bad at all and not expected to get bad for another six or eight hours or bad until midnight or 2:00 in the morning. of course, we will be up for that. but in the meantime, people here are as prepared as they can be

because of the state working hand in hand with fema to preposition supplies here, water, food, generators and tarps just in case, but obviously with the news that earl appears to be staying offshore and here on the cape, itself, will probably only be feeling hurricane-force gusts. that means that people are breathing a slight sigh of relief. but they still have a full night of pounding surf, and high winds to live through. undoubtedly, there are going to be power outage, and we will see downed trees, and there is going to be flooding, because it floods here when it rains just a little bit. so we are expecting all of that. in the meantime, all of the ports are closed since overnight, and they have shut down all of the ferries, so everyone better be where they are going to be and intend to be for this very long night ahead of them. the biggest area of concern right now frankly is nantucket, but it is because it is closest to the path of the storm. and we have a crew there that will be watching and waiting to see what earl has in store for

nantucket island. but the people there, i talked with some of the residents, and they are safe and secure. unfortunately, as you said, this is just a bad weekend for the tourism trade here and main stay as you know of cape cod here, and some hotels have really taken a hit, and have 40% occupancy, and here on the beach hotels where we are in this area of cape cod, there are 4,000 available rooms, and only 100 tourists so far are in them, and we are part of that 100 number, wolf. back to you. >> hopefully it will be back to normal by tomorrow, sunday and monday. it is a long holiday weekend here in the united states. >> they expect it to be. >> thank you, susan. other important news we are following, unemployment ticking up a notch in august. the labor department reporting a increase of 0.1%. many of the jobs were u.s. cens census-related jobs, but the big picture is not as grim. the critical private sector did

add 67,000 jobs and beating the analysts' expectations. what is not counted in a ul of th this is the millions and millions of americans who are underemploy and they may have a job, but it is not the job they were trained for. mary snow has their story. mary, you have been doing checking to see what we mean by underemployed. >> yeah, wolf, these are people who are so discouraged that they have either stopped looking for work or take part-time work while looking for a job. the rank of the unemployed workers are those who can no longer use their skills or have taken big pay cuts like the man you are about to meet, and counting the unemployed gives a bigger picture of the labor market. >> i knew it would get tough. >> reporter: but richard crane didn't know it would be this tough. yes, he has found a full-time job after being laid off, but he is underemployed. he earns $16 an hour at lowes

and he could not find a job that used the skills he had at the unit of general motors operating heavy machines. there he earned as much as $130,000 a year. >> the overtime people used to make, you know, i -- you know, it is not there. it is not there. it is not. i see it everyday. you know, i see it everyday. i mean, what are we going the do? it is america. where's our jobs? >> reporter: in his new job crane has taken a pay cut of almost $100,000. he is struggling to keep his house and provide for his son, and now 14, and his wife, who is battling cancer. he has given up second jobs to spend more time at home. his story of taking a job below his skill level is all too familiar, but it is largely untold. >> i can't hazard a guess on what percentage of the labor

force is a facing that right now, but we do know that it is sizable and it is really impacting families. >> reporter: heidi is a labor economist with the economic policy institute who says that what is measured are discouraged workers who have given up actively seeking employment, and part-time workers looking for full-time jobs. and that amounts to an underemployment rate that stands at 16.7%. while she expects the labor force to recover to prerecession levels, she say has the effects of losing a job have a lasting impact. >> so people like richard are in the situation where they are likely to face that earning hits that can last for decades. >> reporter: and for richard crane, his goals are forever changed. >> when i was working for gm, i was looking forward to turning 56 and retiring and, you know, maybe try odoing something else or even going until i'm 62. now, we are just -- there's no real plan.

it's -- our plan is to get from month to month. >> reporter: and as for americans living month to month, consider this, according to the labor department, one in six americans are currently either unemployed or underemployed. wolf. >> all right. sad, sad situation indeed for so many millions off americans. mary, thank you. jack cafferty is off today. among the stories we are working on right here in "the situation room," president obama dogged by a stagnant economy and so what should he do right now? we will ask the former labor secretary robert reich and the wall street columnist john fund. and also breaking news, we are getting new details right now that the magnitude 7.0 earthquake that caused extensive damage in new zealand's second largest city. we are going through for a live update. and a drill that could potentially cut the time for the trapped miners in chile and maybe cut that time in half.

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new zealand tv. tell us what you saw and heard. >> well, this quake started out at 4:30 this morning, and of course, we were all still in our beds. the impact was immediate and terrifying. i bounced literally up and down on my bed. there is a cabinet in my room, and china smashing everywhere. you go into a sort of vortex that you don't understand what is happening around you at the time. now, of course, it was dark then, and we are starting to realize what has happened, and as you say, some buildings have collapsed, and some have partially collapsed and the facades on them have broken, but in particularly the brick buildings are suffering the worst here. >> what are you hearing, amanda, about the casualties? >> at the moment, we understand that there have been no fatalities, and there have been some serious injuries that some people have been taken to intense tiive care, and most ofm injured from the falling brick

chimneys falling down. we understand that some of the brick chimneys in the suburbs have destroyed cars as well, and so far, not a huge amount of serious injuries coming through at this point. >> are there reports that people are trapped in the rubble as is often the case with these kinds of earthquakes in urban areas? >> yes. what the fire service and search and rescue services are doing is to clear the zones of the buildings that have fallen down and we can't number at the moment, but our -- not among more than, you know, there are not a huge amount of them that we know of, and so that they are doing just what they would do anyway in searching and checking. a lot of the buildings have suffered varying degrees of damage, and so a few of them that have fallen down are few and far apart at the moment, and those have been cleared. >> amanda on the phone for us from christchurch in new

zealand. good luck, amanda, and all of our friends there. thank you very much. thanks very much. >> no problem. a huge, huge new drill could soon make all of the difference of the world for those miners trapped beneath the ground for nearly a month. karl penhaul is at the site of the collapsed mine in northern chile. >> reporter: you can see that these are scenes almost of jubilation, because what is arriving now is a new drill. this is the drill for the so-called plan b. it is called a skram t-130 drill, and it is normally used for drilling water holes. but the engineers believe they can use this drill to drill down to the shelter where the 33 miners are, and in almost half of the time that they can do

with the so-called plan a drill. the reference of the plan a, engineers have told us that in the first three days of drilling that drill has only drilled 41 meters, about 120 feet. that engineers say is slower than expected. so now, the scram t-130 drill has arrived and there are scenes of jubilation. >> karl penhaul reporting, and we hope that drill works and the miners coming up. those 33 miners, and we are hoping and praying for all of them. highway drivers witness a fiery airplane crash, and a u.p.s. 747 cargo plane goes by near the dubai international airport with two pilots on board. federal investigators here from the united states are headed to the crash scene. we will have latest. we are monitoring hurricane earl, and fema warning right now

don't -- repeat, don't let your guard downings because it is a potentially deadly storm. stay with us here in "the situation room." ♪ we could've gone a more traditional route... ... but it wouldn't have been nearly as memorable.

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fredricka whitfield is monitoring the other top stories

in "the situation room" right now. what else is going on, fred? >> hello, again, fred. u.p.s. is confirming that two of the pilots were killed when a cargo plane crashed near the dubai airport today. a 747-400 was bound for cologne, germany, as it was taking off for dubai and caught fire. they say that safety is the key priority and doing everything that it can to find out what caused that crash. in pakistan's tall ban, claiming responsibility for the suicide bombing that has killed 59 people in the southwestern city of quetta. another 160 people were injured and taliban militants say they are avenging the killing of sunni leaders. the blast happened during palestinian talks. and there is a new controversy over the islamic

project near ground zero. where is the imam? the state department says that he was expected to leave the united arab emirates and return to new york yesterday, but that did not happen. the imam was on a 15-day outreach trip for the state department. wolf. >> fred, thank you. extending tax cuts, getting another stimulus spending bill through congress? what else can president obama do to try to turn around the lackluster u.s. economy? also, a different kind of mosquito and this one is specifically designed to annoy teenagers and keep them from loitering. plus, the debate that has gone viral.

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can a second economic stimulus package help turn around the u.s. economy? the white house is shooting down reports it is considering an additional cash infusion on top of last year's controversial $800 billion package. let's discuss what is going on with the former clinton labor secretary robert reich, and his new book is entitled "aftershock, the next economy and america's future." also joining us is new york columnist john fund. thankings for coming in. you wrote robert reich in the "usa today" editorial pages that you would like to see another economic stimulus package to jump start the economy. what are you talking about? >> well, i do think that we still have a big gap between

what the economy can produce at or near full employment, wolf, and what the economy is producing, because there is just not enough demand. consumers and businesses are still technically the term is deleveraging and getting out from under a lot of debt. the businesses are not investing in new jobs as long as there are no customers there, and so that gap has to be filled in somehow, and whether you are on the right or the left or ideologically a supply sider or keynesian, you have to throw it in, whether it is tax cuts or more government spending, there has to be enough to fill in the gap by government or otherwise we will have a continuation of this great jobs depression. >> and just to be clear, robert reich, what you are talking about is hundreds of billions of additional dollars in spending to try to get new infrastructure programs or whatever? >> well, it could be spending or tax cuts. look it, anything to get the consumers to spend. at the last resort it is

necessary to have a wpa-type program and hire people. we cannot possibly go on with 15 to 20 million americans sitting on their hands and not doing anything and they are not being job for them. >> you have a problem with any of that, john? >> well, first of all, we need some humility after the first stimulus package didn't deliver as advertised. we were told it would keep unemployment under 8% and clearly did not do that. so moving forward talk to small business who employees 80% of the american people. and they surveyed the members and said what are the major concerns, and first of all, declining sales, duh, but the second is uncertainty for economic policy. they can't plan for the future and don't know the climate change bill, and the full implication of the taxes dumped on them and the taxes expiring on december 31st.

so if we listen to the small business who create jobs, we should extend the tax cults and increase certainty, and decrease the unpredictability in the economy. >> is that a good idea, professor reich? >> well, yes, everybody wants more certainty, but as the survey showed the number one problem for small and large businesses is not enough sales and demand. we have to tackle that number one n. terms of extending the bush tax cuts, i think that almost everybody, and including the administration wants to extend them for 98% of the americans, but the big question is whether you continue to extend them for people who are very wealthy and the top 2.5% who are basically there is nothing wrong with rich people obviously, but they save more than they spend, and they have a huge windfall from the bush tax cuts, and so why should if we are concerned about the deficits, why should we extend the tax cuts for them? >> well, the most important reason is that about half of the small business income in this country is channeled through

individual income tax returns which means that those 2.5% or many of them are small business people, and 750,000. they hire people. you are not just attacking people with the yachts and mansions, but attacking people with small businesses who file individual returns. we should extend the tax cuts for a year or two on those people as well, because they create jobs. other tax cuts like a temporary pay tax cut for a year would not give that oomph to the economy and certainly not very much certainty. >> well, let me respond to that by saying that all we know is that about 2.5% of small businesses actually the owners do earn more than $250,000, and remember that going -- >> but they represent 50% of small business income. >> let me finish the sen tenls and going back to the bush margin marginal, the clinton marginal tax rates, that is only on the over $250,000 which is a marginal tax rate over $250,000, and if you are concerned at all about future deficits, i don't

understand how anybody on the supply side or any conservative can say that we should just extend everybody's tax cut even though they don't need it. >> let me get involved in this, robert reich. mark zandi, the economist in the middle on all of the issues has represented or advised democrats and republicans and said that at least wait a year to go back to that 39.6% tax rate for the wealthiest americans. it is right now about 35%. because at a time of economic distress, you didn't want to start raising taxes and in 2011, and wait until at least 2012 or 2013. >> well, look it, i don't want to pick on mark zandi, because he was mccain's economic advisers and very good, but he is one economist. the fact of the matter is that there is a certain amount of hypocrisy here, wolf. at love the republicans are saying that we have to worry about the budget deficit, and it is a huge problem, but at the same time they are saying to

extend the bush tax cuts for the very wealthy even though we are talking about a marginal tax cut and talking about going back to clinton days that were pretty good days which means that next year alone, next year alone, millionaire families would get $31 billion that they would not otherwise have that would otherwise bring down the deficit. >> well, to the deficit issue, by allowing the rich people to stay at the same tax rate next year, it is going to increase the deficit? >> well, small people business create job, and as for the clinton years that robert reich goes back to and remember during the true clinton boom years federal discretionary spending went up two percent, and spending restraint as well as capital gains tax cuts and infrastructure spend wrg part of the mix. now if, we only had spending brought back to 2% growth, we could reduce the deficits dramatically, and in addition

what does robert reich think we should do about the capital gains, the death tax and the tax set to go up on the 31st, and that is bad for business and job creation and i don't know of a single school of economic thought, not one that says that you raise taxes in a recession. >> well, you raise rd a couple issues, john fund, and one of the issues that i agree that you brought is that congress should clarify the estate tax and effectively say going back to what it was last year and maybe retroactively and set the limit at maybe a million with 45% estate tax over $1 million estates, and that seems to me fair, and that's -- >> what about the cap gal gaita and dividends? >> well, the capital gains over to 20% as it was under bill clinton. >> well, let's do something then. we only have four months left. this kind of uncertainty is

retarding the job creation for the last year and a half, because nobody knows what is going to happen. >> john fund, the irony is that it is the republican party stonewalling and not allowing anything to move forward. obviously -- you want more definitiveness -- >> gentlemen, i have to cut this short, unfortunately, but john, a final thought, because i let robert reich start. give me a final quick thought. >> look, every one needs certainty right now. there is a capital strike in this country there. is hundreds of billions of dollars sit on the sidelines, because people don't know what the economic future holds. let's give them as much certainty as we can and decide quickly that we want to tax policy that helps create jobs. if we don't have it, this uncertainty is going to consume us all with more stagflation. >> robert reich and john fund, a good serious debate which will continue, i am sure. guys, thank you very much. have a great weekend. >> good-bye, wolf, and john.

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what a week it has been. let's bring in john king and candy crowley. have the democrats really run out of time over the next two months before the midterm elections to avoid a political bloodbath. >> the pc answer is that you never run out of time until election day, but the realistic answer is that we know from a lot of the campaigns in the past that people basically make up their minds about the state of the economy by mid-summer and we are past mid-summer, so i think that basically the economy is set, and the administration has said they expect unemployment to reach 10% by the end of the year. >> a lot of the democrats are so nervous right now, john, because they don't believe that the administration has a good handle on what the do next. >> they don't believe that the administration is consistent and clarity with specifically about what to do next.

you had a healthy debate about it, and john fund's point about certainty is something that if you talk to small business countries arou-- owners around country, they want to know what is it going to be like next year. a lot of the people who run the big campaigns say that they wish that the president would talk more broadly about where we are going, and more specifically about the bills. and some want to know why harry reid won't call it back and make it a issue everyday and at least give the voters some contrast to reinforce the argument that the republicans won't let us do it. >> they should come out with a formal plan of their own or simply hammer away at the democrats. >> and when that is the choice, the people hammer away at the opposition. when you put something out there, it is a target. when you look the president talking about the small business tax cut, and the ones that are up there, and the ones he may yet introduce, basically when you look at how long those tax

cults have lingered in the senate, this is a political move the me. now they want it, but in the end, they can say, well, the republicans first opposed us on this and then we gave them tax cuts they were asking for and they opposed that, too. >> and as you know, john, big business and little business and all sorts of people who are higher people, they want to know for sure what is the game plan, and as you point out the uncertainty is really killing them, and telling them, don't hire the new people. >> that is definitely part of it. and the uncertainty is part of it and a lot of the democrats say that the businesses are hording money, because they had a couple of bad years with the shareholders and couple of bad years with the stockholders and dividends and hold the money to have a coupling of big profits to prove they are doing better, and that sfris frustrating, too. but even if the president could put everything he wants to do, it would not effect the economy before election day and voters

pull the lever. >> we will is you john king atop of the hour with "john king usa" and you on sunday with "state at the nation." this is the sound of controversy. if it sounds annoying, it is working, because it is designed to target teenagers in some places, and some people say that sun fair. can. yes it is. you can't have a box top on a can. yes we can. but a can isn't a box. we know. i don't think you do. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. built with quality and backed with the best coverage in america including a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. that's 40,000 more miles than ford. chevy silverado half-ton. a consumers digest best buy and the most dependable, longest lasting full-size pickups on the road. now get 0% apr for 72 months on 2010 silverado half-ton models with an average finance savings around $5,800.

little bit of optimism and at least by some about the newest round of middle east peace talks after the first two days of meeting right here in washington, d.c. but what is the view in israel? joining us now from jerusalem, we have the anchor of the evening news on channel 2 in

israel. thanks very much for coming in. i want to play this clip, this exchange that you had in july when you interviewed president obama here in washington. >> there are people in israel who are anxious about you. >> right. >> and who -- i am quoting their sentiment feel like you don't have a special conk in shun to israel. how do you respond to that? >> well, you know, it is interesting, because this is the thing that actually surfaceden before i was elected president in some of to talk that was circulating within the jewish-american community. >> the question, have attitudes toward president obama changed in israel over the past few months, especially since your interview, the first and only interview he has done with israel media?

>> well, wolf, i think that the effort was acknowledged by the israeli people, and i think that they listened very carefully to what he said in that interview. they appreciated his candor in that interview. obviously, one conversation doesn't change everything, and you know the relationship between president obama and prime minister netanyahu has been rocky to say the least in the beginning, but there has been a change of tone, and a change of tone from washington meant first of all obviously this interview, but also basically, you know, a very friendly back to the friendly tone that the israelis have been used to. so, on the whole, yes, that made a difference to israelis. >> the president also told you in july, he thought that there could be a peace agreement between the israelis and the palestinians in his first term in office. do people in israel believe that?

>> well, wolf, i think that, you know and a lot of people know that israelis are quite cynical. they are quite skeptic and maybe they have reason to be that way, because they have seen so many ceremonies and launching and re-launching and pomp and circumstance, and you know the israelis have had their own version of the iraqi banner of "mission accomplished" and seen it over and over. they are skeptic, but i don't know to say they are not hopeful or interested, but they are skeptic when you see the leaders walking into the room of the state department you think to yourself, they are like students walking into the exam where they know the questions before hand, but still they managed to fail. i would say that israelis are pretty skeptic to make a short answer to the question. >> and finally, can netanyahu deliver? will the israeli people go along with him if he signs a peace agreement with the palestinians that will be painful on many of the sensitive issues? >> that is a big question that the israelis are asking

themselves is netanyahu willing and able? when you listen to this man speaking in washington, this is the man who for years said to the israeli public who said i want to talk peace, and there is no partner on the other side, but suddenly in washington, he is turning to president abbas saying you are my partner, and a shift in tone and rhetoric, so does that mean there is a shift, dramatic shift in policy, and does that mean in netanyahu wants to, he will be able to pass a peace agreement with the right wing government? well, i would say that the sentime sentiment, and the septemberm t me -- sentiment in israel is that if president netanyahu wants to construct peace, he will be able to achieve peace as other leaders and right-wing leaders have done before. >> and yonit is the anchor for channel 2 in israel. thank you for joining us.

>> thank you, wolf. and next week we will get the view of a palestinian journalist and stay tuned for that. and it is technology to take advantage of age. >> we want to play a setting now for people 50 years older and younger. ki hear that, too. >> well, we put the so-called mosquito to the test on the "situation room" staff. the government goes silent in the middle of a televised debate, and jeanne moos takes a moos unusual look. >> it will make your job -- mmmh, orange chicken. great. i didn't feel like going out anyway. [ male announcer ] wanchai ferry. restaurant quality chinese in your grocer's freezer.

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police have recently had to deal with some crowd control situations involving violent teenagers. now a controversial noise device just may do the work for them. let's find out more from our own

brian todd. >> reporter: this section of washington is very popular with young people because of all the trendy bars and restaurants around here. but recently property managers have complained about loitering. there was a street brawl here, it was a real mess. since that time property managers have placed this device up on the wall right next to the metro station. this is called a mosquito. it emits a high-pitched sound, but does it unfairly target young people? it can cause a high pitched headache. and that's by design. just outside the gallery place subway stop in washington, the mosquito beeps often. but is it indiscriminate? this anti-loitering device was placed here after a big street brawl. but the property managers and the distributor both tell cnn the noise maker doesn't target

young people. still, the distributor says teenagers happen to do the most loitering. and he says the sound is most effective for the stage of life when humans can hear the highest pitches. >> when activated, it emits a sound at 17.5 kilohertz, which is at the end of the youth hearing range. they find it annoying and will leave the area. >> reporter: at gallery place, we saw some young people getting irritated. >> probably wouldn't shop at any of these shops if it heard it again. >> reporter: why not? >> it gave me a headache. >> reporter: there are settings that can be heardage groups. i played the sound off a computer in our newsroom near several people in their 20s, 30s and older. i didn't tip them off before hand. onsetings for people 25, 30, 35 and younger, no one reacted.

then we're going to play a setting now for people 50 years old and younger. i can hear that, too. still, some believe this device does target teenagers unfairly. among the community leaders who have concerns, judith of the children's law center here. there are problems with violence and loiterers driving away customers that count on that business in this area. would this help? >> i'm sympathetic to businesses being able to engage the most customers. this isn't the best solution. we need to have better programs for youth. we need to engage them in activities. >> reporter: believe it or not, young people have been able to use this device to their advantage. we're told that that high-pitched sound has made its way on the internet. young people have been able to download that noise on their

cell phones to use as ring tones, so when their cell phones ring they can hear it but their parents and teachers cannot. wolf? >> brian, thank you very much. the arizona governor jan brewer says it was the longest 16 seconds of her life. will it prove to be a game changer with voters? stay with us, you're in "the situation room." jetblue -- financing their fleet, sharing our expertise, and working with people who are changing the face of business in america. after 25 years in the aviation business, i kind of feel like if you're not having fun at what you do, then you've got the wrong job. my landing was better than yours. no, it wasn't. yes, it was. was not. yes, it was. what do you think? take one of the big ones out? nah.

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everyone has that moment they would like to forget, but

for the arizona governor jan brewer, that moment came before the cameras and lots of voters. jeanne moos has this most unusual campaign pause. >> reporter: rarely have so few words inspired so many. >> jan brewer's meltdown. >> a strange meltdown. >> at a loss for words. >> but wow. >> amazing. >> reporter: with a hand clapped to the mouth, let's go to the videotape replay for another squirm. >> we have done everything that we could possibly do. >> reporter: arizona's governor was speaking or more accurately not speaking. >> we have -- uh ---did what was right for arizona. >> reporter: it may have been the longest brain freeze.

timed with a helpful stopwatch. it was even more painful when digitally ticked off. >> we have, um, did what was right for arizona. >> reporter: on a ktar interview, governor brewer had her own time estimate. >> the longest 16 seconds of my life. >> reporter: even right wing websites called it painful to watch, but endearing, too. there was other awkward pauses lately. for instance, from a rookie senate candidate in south carolina. and even pros have deer in the headlight moments. john mccain's viagra moment was used against him in a commercial after it took him eight seconds to answer a question on whether insurance companies should cover birth control. jon stewart imitated mccain.

and when president bush was asked -- >> what would your biggest mistake be? >> reporter: his response was famously hesitant. >> you know, i just, i'm sure something will pop into my head here. all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer. >> reporter: but there are worse things that can happen. sometimes when your brain stops, so should your tongue. >> such as in south africa and iraq, everywhere, like such as. >> jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> you can follow what's going on here in "the situation room." i'm on twitter. you can get my tweets. you can also follow "the situation room" on facebook. go to facebook.com to become a